ON THE BEARS

Bears' Graham may be cornering a job

BOURBONNAIS — Rarely does an F2 tornado hit New Hampshire the way one ripped through the state last week, wreaking havoc in 11 towns and displacing hundreds of families.

Bears cornerback Corey Graham, a conscientious University of New Hampshire graduate, was asked a couple of days ago how friends at his alma mater had coped with the tornado's aftermath.

"What tornado?" Graham answered.

Told of the details after practice, Graham went back to the dorm to call people from the state he called home for four years. He happily reported back a day later that, besides some minor damage to a former coach's home, nobody he knew had felt the twister's wrath.

"You look back last year to this year, Corey's like a totally different player, and it's because he's so focused each day coming into the meetings," defensive backs coach Steven Wilks said.

Training camp always includes a small group of players considered pleasant surprises. This summer Graham tops that list for the Bears. The fifth-round pick from 2007 has been playing left cornerback with the No. 1 defense, replacing starter Charles Tillman as the Bears allow Tillman time and space to address personal issues.

At 6 feet and 193 pounds, Graham fits the prototype of the ideal Cover-2 cornerback and has improved the way he uses his hands to impede a wide receiver's release. Graham is over the ankle injury that nagged him last year and his speed has been obvious as he stays in step with speedy receivers on deep patterns. His field awareness no longer looks like a weakness. And he has good hands.

At a position where veteran Ricky Manning Jr. likely will be waived before the end of camp, Graham's rapid development has pulled him even with Trumaine McBride, Nathan Vasher's backup, and ahead of impressive rookie Zack Bowman.

"When he lines up with the [starters], he feels like he deserves to be out there," Wilks said. "That's the key thing right now. You want someone out there who has confidence. We trust Corey."

No question Tillman remains entrenched at left cornerback whenever he returns. But NFL teams never have enough good cornerbacks -- especially in a division full of big, physical wide receivers.

"Charles is gone and hopefully everything will go well with his family and he'll come back and still be the best guy to step back into his spot," Graham said. "He's the starter. I just want to win and have the best 11 guys on the field. But I feel like I can play, definitely, and when it's my turn, take advantage of the opportunity."

Finally, the Bears might agree.

Graham finished second on the Bears in special-teams tackles last season and has been penciled in again on the punt, punt-return, kickoff and kickoff-return teams.

But defensive coaches buried Graham so far on the depth chart in 2007 that he was never a true cornerback option even when starters Tillman and Vasher missed the Sept. 30 Lions game with injuries.

Rather than thrust Graham into the lineup, they shifted Danieal Manning to cornerback and used another rookie, Kevin Payne, at safety.

"That was tough," Graham said. "I would have loved for it to be me, but I wasn't ready. I had that ankle injury that I tried to tough it out and play through, but it bothered me. I wasn't healthy. I knew I wasn't 100 percent, and they didn't see the real me last year."

It wasn't the first time Graham had been overlooked. At New Hampshire, he says he accepted spending four years in the shadow of Division I-AA All-America wide receiver David Ball, who broke Jerry Rice's records.

Graham kidded that so little was made of his exploits in college that he still hasn't met former Bear Jerry Azumah, one of New Hampshire's most famous football alums.

"He was always talking to Ball whenever he came to campus," Graham said, smiling. "I guess I wasn't big enough for [Azumah]. Maybe one day I'll see him and we'll introduce ourselves."

Through one full week of practice for Graham, it's been hello, consistency, goodbye, doubt.